Apparatus for detecting tissue hardness of living body

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for detecting tissue hardness of a living body includes a housing, a cap, a bottom cover, a driving module, a buffering module, a spring pipeline, a push-rod and a detecting module, and the driving module includes a firing spring and a restoring spring, and the two springs have different rigidities so as to form a reciprocating structure of the firing mechanism. After the detecting module of a firing mechanism is triggered, the resilience of the restoring spring compresses the firing spring back to its firing length, so as to restore its position by a single driving point and allow users to complete the firing operation by one hand and simplify the operation of doctors to improve convenience and efficiency.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a detecting apparatus, in particular toan apparatus applied in an endoscope accessory and having a detectingelement for detecting and measuring tissue hardness in a living body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, tumors are found through touching or naked-eye observation,and the observation is usually assisted by instruments such asultrasonic instruments or endoscopes. The endoscope primarily extends asoft tube with a camera and a light source device into a living body,and an external display device is provided for obtaining the informationof the surfaces of organs and tissues in vivo. Further, a tissue sectionis sliced and collected in order to perform a pathological test.However, the endoscope just can provide the information of the surfaceof tissues only, but it is difficult to determine the existence of atumor in subcutaneous tissues through the observation by the endoscope.

A change of tissue hardness is usually accompanied with a pathologicalchange. For example, a subcutaneous tumor causes abnormal tissuehardness, and the test still requires ultrasonic endoscopes to obtaintumor information accurately. However, the ultrasonic endoscope isexpensive and thus it is not popular among general medical institutions.Therefore, it is necessary to provide a simple and easy way of measuringthe flexibility of tissues in a living body in order to examine whetherthere is a subcutaneous tumor and assist the diagnosis of diseases.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,328,730 entitled “Living bodymeasurement apparatus”, the living body measurement apparatus includes acontact section which includes a first contact surface contacting aliving body and which applies pressure to the living body, an auxiliarysection disposed on an external side of the contact section andincluding a second contact surface contacting the living body, andsupporting the second contact surface, so that the second contactsurface performs reciprocating movement between coplanar positions anddrives the second contact surface to retract to the position of thefirst contact surface, and the first contact surface and the secondcontact surface are disposed on the same plane, and a first pressuresensor is installed for measuring pressure applied to both of thecontact section and the auxiliary section. The measurement apparatusincludes a support section for supporting the auxiliary section, a firstelongated groove formed between the auxiliary section and the supportsection and extended in a reciprocating direction of the reciprocatingmovement of the second contact surface, a second elongated groove whichis formed in the one of the auxiliary section and the support sectionand which extends in a direction perpendicular to the reciprocatingdirection, a protruding portion which is formed in the other of theauxiliary section and the support section and which is disposed ateither one of the first elongated groove, so that the locking mechanismis configured to lock the auxiliary section in a state in which thesecond contact surface is disposed at the retracted position, such thatthe hardness of muscular tissues and the pain of a patient can bemeasured by a single instrument.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,640 entitled “Apparatus formeasuring the consistency or hardness of a material”, the apparatusincludes a cylindrical housing enclosing a spring with the degree ofpre-straining of which, in compression, is adjustable by means of screw,and the spring pushes a piston towards the material, and the end of thepiston fixedly carries a feeler, and the displacement of the piston inthe cylindrical housing is registered by means of a conventional type ofdisplacement sensor which delivers a continuous voltage outputproportional to the displacement of the feller from a referenceposition, and the housing includes stops for limiting the travel of thepiston, thereby defining the aforementioned reference position.Therefore, this apparatus can be used for testing a material havingvariable pressures and measuring the hardness of elastic material (suchas skin) accurately.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,137 entitled “Frequency deviationdetecting circuit and measuring apparatus using the frequency deviationdetecting circuit”, the apparatus includes an oscillator for generatinga mechanical oscillation, and a detecting element for detecting theoscillation information, and a feedback circuit for feeding back afeedback signal of the oscillator based on the oscillation information,and driving the oscillator into a first resonant state, and theoscillator has a central frequency of the first oscillator, a gainvariation compensating circuit installed to the feedback circuit, andthe central frequency of the gain is different from the frequency of theoscillator applicable for increasing the gain in response to a change offrequency. If the frequency changes, the oscillator shifts from thefirst resonant state to a second resonant state, and the oscillator hasa second oscillation central frequency, and the apparatus detects thedeviation between the central frequencies of the first and secondoscillators, and this apparatus is applied to the apparatus formeasuring hardness and detecting the hardness of biological tissue (suchas skin or internal organ).

In addition, the inventor of the present invention also filed a sensorrelated patent as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/116,092 entitled “Apparatus and method for identifying a tissue in aliving body”, and the apparatus comprises a sensing element for sensingtissue parameters, a manipulating device for manipulating the sensingelement, and an analyzing element for analyzing the meaning of theparameters. The sensing element is placed near an object to be testedand forces are applied to both of the top and bottom ends of the sensingelement, so that a contact force is produced between soft tissues andthe sensing element to cause deformation, and the deformation ismeasured and its corresponsive voltage value is read, so that a ratio ofvoltage values or a reflected stress ratio may be used to estimate thetissue to be tested and the material property related to hardness.

However, the aforementioned patent primarily aims at the aspect ofsensors, and the control of forces is essential to the sensors, so thatthe sensors still require an appropriate firing device for triggeringthe sensor and touching the object to be tested in order to obtainmeasured values and continue the measurement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the drawback of the conventional endoscope that can providethe information of the surfaces of organs and tissues only, and thedrawbacks of the aforementioned patents that focus on the sensor onlyand seldom have any improvement to the sensor and the firing mechanismand affect major components for operating the sensor or even affect themeasurement data and diagnosis results, it is a primary objective of thepresent invention to provide a firing mechanism that uses two springs ofdifferent rigidities to constitute a reciprocating structure of thefiring mechanism, so that after the sensor of the firing mechanism istriggered, the position restoration can be achieved by a by a singledriving point, and the operation can be completed by one hand tosimplify the operation and improve the convenience and efficiency.

Another objective of the present invention is to reduce the noisegenerated from the vibration of the sensor by winding and fixingconductive wires of a detective module to a core wire, so as to obtainmore accurate measurements and data.

To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the present invention providesan apparatus for detecting tissue hardness of a living body, theapparatus comprises a housing, a cap, a bottom cover, a driving module,a buffering module, a spring pipeline, a push-rod and a detectingmodule, wherein the housing is a hollow tube and the housing has anouter embedding wall formed around the periphery of the housing, aninner embedding wall formed inside the housing, and a fixed base formedin a tube body of the housing; the cap is embedded into the outerembedding wall of the housing and has an opening; the bottom cover iscoupled to the housing, and having a pipeline formed therein, aconnecting portion disposed on a side of the bottom cover, and a throughhole formed at the connecting portion; and the driving module comprises:a pressing device which is in form of a hollow tube and has a triggeringrod extended separately from both sides of the pressing device; apull-rod installed in the hollow tube of the pressing device; arestoring spring, installed between the pressing device and the fixedbase of the housing; a trigger, fixed to the pull-rod, and having anelastic brace formed separately on both sides of the trigger, such thatthe elastic brace supports and abuts the inner embedding wall of thehousing; and a firing spring, installed between the fixed base of thehousing and the trigger; and the buffering module comprises: a seatbody, disposed at an end of the housing, and having a penetrating hole;and a buffer spring, sheathed on the seat body; and the spring pipeline,being installed in the pipeline of the bottom cover, and the push-rodpassing into the spring pipeline and having a front end fixed to thetrigger, and a detecting module, combined with an end of the push-rod ,and including: a front carrier, having a perforation and a plurality ofholes; a spring duct, having a core wire fixed therein; a rear carrier,having a plurality of holes, and a conductive silver paste filled intothe holes; a sensor, combined with the rear carrier; a plurality ofconductive wires, wound around the core wire, such that after an end ofthe conductive wire passes through the hole of the rear carrier, the endof the conductive wire is coupled to the sensor, and after the other endof the conductive wire passes through the hole of the front carrier,said other end is passed out of the perforation and connected to aback-end system for reading a signal; and a waterproof layer, coatedaround the periphery of the rear carrier and the spring duct.

By pressing down the pressing device, the pressing device compresses therestoring spring, while driving the triggering rod of the pressingdevice to inwardly push the elastic brace of the trigger and allow thetrigger and the pull-rod to fall, so as to release the compressed stateof the firing spring. While the trigger is falling, the push-rod islinked and pushed out, so that a detecting module combined with an endof the push-rod to push the sensor touches a tissue to be tested. Whenthe trigger falls to the seat body, a buffer spring of the seat bodyprovides a buffer to the downward pulling force. Till the detectingmodule detects a signal and transmits the signal to a back-end system,the pressing device may be released, so that the restoring spring isreleased from the compressed state to push the pressing device back toits original position, and the pull-rod pulls back the trigger, so thatthe elastic brace of the trigger abuts the inner embedding wall of thehousing to set the firing spring to the compressed state, while pullingand stretching the push-rod automatically to restore its originalposition and prepare for the next measurement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a detecting module of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of connecting a detecting module of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of pressing down a pressing device of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of pushing out a push-rod of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is schematic view of a measurement of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is schematic view of a measurement taken by a detecting module ofthe present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of pulling back a pressing device of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the present invention after restoring itsposition.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will become clearer in light of the followingdetailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this inventiondescribed in connection with the drawings. It is intended that theembodiments and drawings disclosed herein are to be consideredillustrative rather than restrictive.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 for a firing mechanism applied to anendoscope accessory, the firing mechanism 1 comprises a housing 2, a cap3, a bottom cover 4, a driving module 5, a buffering module 6, a springpipeline 7, a push-rod 71 and a detecting module 8. The housing 2 is ahollow tube and comprises an outer embedding wall 21 formed around theexternal periphery of the housing 2, an inner embedding wall 22 formedinside the housing 2, and a fixed base 23 formed in the hollow tube ofthe housing 2. The cap 3 is embedded into the outer embedding wall 21 ofthe housing 2 and has an opening 31. The bottom cover 4 has a groove 41corresponsive to the housing 2 and combined with the housing 2, apipeline 42 formed in the bottom cover 4, a connecting portion 43 formedon a side of the bottom cover 4, and a through hole 431 formed on theconnecting portion 43. The driving module 5 comprises a pressing device51, a pull-rod 52, a restoring spring 53, a trigger 54 and a firingspring 55. The pressing device 51 is in form of a hollow tube passingthrough the opening 31 of the cap 3, and a triggering rod 511 isextended separately from both sides of the pressing device 51, and aconvex wall 512 is formed at the center of the pressing device 51, and abump 521 is formed at the front end of the pull-rod 52 for embeddinginto the hollow tube of the pressing device 51, and the restoring spring53 is installed between the convex wall 512 of the pressing device 51and the fixed base 23 of the housing 2. The trigger 54 has a groove forreceiving and fixing an end of the pull-rod 52, and an elastic brace 541formed separately on both sides of the trigger 54, such that the trigger54 abuts the inner embedding wall 22 of the housing 2 through theelastic brace 541, and the firing spring 55 is installed between thefixed base 23 of the housing 2 and the trigger 54.

The buffering module 6 comprises a seat body 61 and a buffer spring 62,and the seat body 61 is disposed at an end of the hollow tube of thehousing 2 and has a penetrating hole 611. A bump 612 is formed at thetop of the seat body 61 and provided for sheathing and fixing the bufferspring 62. The spring pipeline 7 is installed in the pipeline 42 of thebottom cover 4, and the push rod 71 is installed in the spring pipeline7, such that the front end is fixed to the trigger 54.

As to the detecting module 8 (referring to FIG. 3 for a cross-sectionalview of a detecting module of the present invention), the detectingmodule 8 is combined with an end of the push-rod 71 and the detectingmodule 8 comprises a front carrier 81 having a perforation 811 and aplurality of holes 812; a spring duct 82 having a core wire 821 fixedtherein; a rear carrier 83 having a plurality of holes 831, and aconductive silver paste 832 filled in the holes 831; a sensor 84 coupledto the rear carrier 83; a plurality of conductive wires 85 wound andfixed around the core wire 821 of the spring duct 82, such that after anend of the conductive wire 85 passes through the hole 831 of the rearcarrier 83, the end is coupled to the sensor 84, and after the other endpasses through the hole 812 of the front carrier 81, such other end ispassed through the perforation 811 and connected to the back-end systemfor reading signals; and a waterproof layer 86 coated on the externalperiphery of the rear carrier 83 and the spring pipeline 82,

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 for an assembling process, the housing 2 isplaced into a groove 41 of the bottom cover 4, and a seat body 61 isplaced onto an end of the housing 2, and a buffer spring 62 is sheathedon the top of the seat body 61, and the trigger 54 is fixed to apush-rod 71. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a nut57 is secured at an end of the trigger 54, so that the push-rod 71 issecurely fixed to the trigger 54, and a firing spring 55 is installedbetween the trigger 54 and the fixed base 23 of the housing 2, and thenthe pressing device 51 is installed at the front end of the housing 2,and a restoring spring 53 is installed between the convex wall 512 ofthe pressing device 51 and the fixed base 23 of the housing 2. And then,the pressing device 51 is installed at the front end of the housing 2,and the restoring spring 53 is installed between the convex wall 512 ofthe pressing device 51 and the fixed base 23 of the housing 2. In apreferred embodiment of the present invention, the hollow tube of thepressing device 51 has a plug 56, and a handle cover 24 is sheathed onthe external periphery of the housing 2 to provide users a comfortablegrip for the operation. In addition, the pressing device 51 is installedto the cap 3 through the opening 31 and the cap is embedded between thehousing 2 and the handle cover 24. The cap 3 is installed to thepressing device 51 through the opening 31 and embedded between thehousing 2 and the handle cover 24. In addition, the conductive wires 85of the detecting module 8 are wound and fixed around the core wire 821in the spring duct 82, and an end of the conductive wire is passedthrough the hole 831 of the rear carrier 83. In a preferred embodimentof the present invention, the conductive wires 85 are connected to thesensor 84 by soldering, and an adhesive layer 87 is coated at thesoldering position of the rear carrier 83 and the sensor 84, so that theconnecting position has a smooth surface, and after the other end of theconductive wire 85 is passed through the hole 812 of the front carrier81, such end is passed out from the perforation 811 (also see FIG. 4),and then passed into the through hole 431 of the bottom cover 4 andsoldered to the connecting portion 43, such that the back-end system canread the signal through the connection with the connecting portion 43.The aforementioned components constitute the firing mechanism 1 (asshown in FIG. 5).

With reference to FIG. 6 for the schematic view of pressing down thepressing device of the present invention pressing device, when thefiring mechanism 1 is not in use, the restoring spring 53 is situated ata non-compressed state, and the firing spring 55 is situated at acompressed state. When the pressing device 51 is pressed, the triggeringrods 511 on both sides of the pressing device travel for a certaindistance and push the elastic braces 541 on both sides of the trigger 54respectively to compress the restoring spring 53, so that the elasticbrace 541 originally abutting at the inner embedding wall 22 isretracted and falls down.

In the meantime, the compressed state of the firing spring 55 isreleased (also see FIG. 7), and the trigger 54 is triggered by theresilience of the firing spring 55 and fired to the seat body 61, andthe buffer spring 62 of the seat body 61 provides a buffering effect forthe downward pulling force and links the pull-rod 52 and the push-rod 71in the firing process, so that the push-rod 71 pushes out the springpipeline 7 (as shown in FIG. 8), such that a detecting module 8 combinedwith the front end of the push-rod 71 is stretched out through thesensor to touch a tissue to be tested (also see FIG. 9). Since theconductive wires 85 of the detecting module 8 are wound and fixed aroundthe core wire 821, therefore noises produced by the vibration of thesensor 84 may be reduced, and the connecting portion 43 (not shown inthe figure) is connected to the back-end system for reading a feedbacksignal of the sensor 84. If the detected tissues of a living bodyinclude any subcutaneous tumor, an abnormal value of the tissue hardnesswill be detected and provided as a reference to doctors as a basis fordiagnosis and determination.

If the signal is detected by the detecting module 8 and transmitted backto the back-end system (also refer to FIG. 10 for the schematic view ofpulling back the pressing device of the present invention),

users may release the pressing of the pressing device 51, so that thecompressed state of the restoring spring 53 is released to push thepressing device 51 back to its original position and drive the pull-rod52 to pull back the trigger 54 accordingly, and the elastic brace 541 ofthe trigger 54 abuts the inner embedding wall 22 of the housing 2 (alsosee FIG. 11), and the firing spring 55 resumes its compressed state,while the push-rod 71 is automatically pulled and stretched with thetrigger 54 to restore its original position and prepare for the nextmeasurement.

It is noteworthy that the firing mechanism 1 of the present inventionforms the reciprocating structure by two springs of differentrigidities, wherein the coefficient of rigidity of the firing spring 55is greater than the coefficient of rigidity of the restoring spring 53,and the required firing force is calculated by Hooke's law, such thatafter the sensor 9 of the firing mechanism 1 is triggered, theresilience of the restoring spring 53 compresses the firing spring 55again to its firing length. Therefore, the position restoration can becompleted by a single driving point, and the firing operation can beachieved by one hand, so as to simplify the doctor's operation andimprove convenience and efficiency.

In summation of the description above, the present invention improvesover the prior art, and is thus duly filed for patent application. Whilethe invention has been described by means of specific embodiments,numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for detecting tissue hardness of aliving body, comprising: a housing, being a first hollow tube, andhaving an outer embedding wall formed around an outer periphery of thehousing, an inner embedding wall formed inside the housing, and a fixedbase formed in a tube body of the housing; a cap, embedded into theouter embedding wall of the housing, and having an opening; a bottomcover, coupled to the housing, the bottom cover including a pipelineformed therein, a connecting portion disposed on a side of the bottomcover, and a through hole formed at the connecting portion; and adriving module, comprising: a pressing device, being a second hollowtube, and having a triggering rod extended separately from both sides ofthe pressing device; a pull-rod, installed in the second hollow tube ofthe pressing device; a restoring spring, installed between the pressingdevice and the fixed base; a trigger, fixed to the pull-rod, and havingan elastic brace formed separately on both sides of the trigger, suchthat the elastic brace supports and abuts the inner embedding wall ofthe housing; and a firing spring, installed between the fixed base ofthe housing and the trigger, and having a coefficient of rigiditygreater than a coefficient of rigidity of the restoring spring; and abuffering module, comprising: a seat body, disposed at a first end ofthe housing, and having a penetrating hole; and a buffer spring,sheathed on the seat body; and a spring pipeline, installed in thepipeline of the bottom cover; a push-rod, installed in the springpipeline, the push-rod having a front end fixed to the trigger; and adetecting module, combined with a back end of the push-rod, andincluding: a front carrier, having a perforation and a plurality offront carrier holes; a spring duct, having a core wire fixed therein; arear carrier, having a plurality of rear carrier holes, and a conductivesilver paste filled into the rear carrier holes; a sensor, combined withthe rear carrier; a plurality of conductive wires, wound around the corewire, such that after a proximal end of the conductive wires passesthrough the rear carrier holes of the rear carrier, the proximal ends ofthe conductive wires are coupled to the sensor, and after a distal endof the conductive wires passes through the front carrier holes of thefront carrier, said distal end is passed out of the perforation andconnected to a back-end system for reading a signal; and a waterprooflayer, coated to encapsulate a periphery of the rear carrier and thespring duct.
 2. The apparatus for detecting tissue hardness of a livingbody as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a handle cover sheathedon the outer periphery of the housing.
 3. The apparatus for detectingtissue hardness of a living body as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising an adhesive layer disposed at a combining position of thesensor and the push-rod.
 4. The apparatus for detecting tissue hardnessof a living body as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conductive wires andthe back-end system are coupled by passing the conductive wires thatpasses through the perforation into the through hole of the bottom coverand soldering the conductive wires to the connecting portion, so thatthe back-end system is connected through the connecting portion to reada signal.